


No Others Before Me

by CaffieneKitty



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Computers, Gen, Horror, memory loss/erasure, the Intersect is a jealous mistress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-07
Updated: 2010-03-07
Packaged: 2017-12-29 07:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffieneKitty/pseuds/CaffieneKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the <b>Sharp Teeth</b> horror meme prompt - <i>Every so often, the Intersect must reallocate data for which it has no more use.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	No Others Before Me

**Author's Note:**

> _Originally posted on Livejournal on the _Sharp Teeth_ Horror comment fic meme March 7 2010_

It's a sunny Tuesday when Chuck loses second grade. Not like he was using it for much anyway, but they're all out by the fountain and Ellie says something about a show and tell where he took a Pong console to class and he doesn't remember it at all. Who would really? A lot of years have passed since then, and a lot of things have happened. But the way Ellie tells it it sounds like it was a high point in his childhood. 

He can't even remember them owning a Pong console, no matter how many times Ellie says he used to brag about his score. 

-

"You won't believe this, but someone just called in with a question about an Amiga."

Chuck blinked. "A what?"

"Exactly. I mean besides you even remembers those? I told the guy you were the expert on them, figured it'd be a nostalgia trip for you."

"No, really Morgan. What's a Amiga?"

Morgan snorted. "Only the computer you spent an entire summer swearing was better at graphics rendering than any PC. I had to listen to you go on and on about Video Toaster for months."

Chuck laughed. "I'm sorry Morgan, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Morgan frowned then waved it off. "Whatever, man. The guy's lucky I even remembered. I hate old computers."

-

As he sleeps, Chuck loses little bits; Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, 486DX PC's, nothing he's even thought about in years. Nothing he'll need to think about again.

He doesn't notice. It's hard to notice not remembering something there's no reason to recollect.

-

He sits at his computer looking at the email Bryce Larkin sent him containing the original Intersect data. Some random nonsense about a troll. How had he even known what to respond to that with? It didn't make any sense. 

Something teases the edge of Chuck's mind, something starting with a 'Z', but he blinks and it's gone and he's staring at an old e-mail with an incomprehensible code phrase.

He drags it to 'saved email' and forgets about it.

-

"Bartowski!"

"Yes, hi! What can I do for you, Big Mike?"

"You can do your damn job, that's what you can do. What's this I hear about you telling a customer he couldn't be helped?"

"Oh that, yeah. The guy was nuts. He wanted something fixed but it wasn't a computer."

"Lester says he was asking about some RAM for a Pentium."

"Exactly! I mean, what's a Pentium?"

"...Look, Bartowski, I don't pretend to know your geek stuff. I don't want to know. But if someone comes in with a computer you can't fix or you don't want to deal with, you sell him a new one."

"But he wasn't asking about a computer, he was asking about a Pentium."

"Whatever. Sell him a new one. Got it?"

"Absolutely."

-

He hasn't lost all of second grade he determines, just Pong. Anytime he tries to remember Pong he finds himself thinking about shipping schedules in the Red Sea. Chuck remembers Suzie Schaeffer used to run up and hit him in the playground with her Rainbow Brite knapsack. He remembers Miss Jamal's soft round accent pronouncing new words; maroon, tightrope, nightmare. He remembers Bud Cheevers getting his arm caught under the merry-go-round, the sound of the bone cracking, the screams.

He doesn't remember Pong. It's a funny word. It doesn't mean anything.


End file.
